Marin Auto Science

After reading reviews on Unilocal,we began taking our car here years ago. Usually good service and decent price. I had made an appointment with the mechanic for Thursday. Dropped the car off Wednesday night. Called Thursday afternoon and was told the mechanic didn’t have time to look at it until Friday! Leaving me TWO days without a car. Car makes lots of noises while driving it, and has recently overheated. Mechanic tells me nothing is wrong with the car. However, I want to know why it overheated and what is causing the noise. I will take it somewhere else from now on. I don’t want to waste another few days to get answers.

I needed the air conditioning repaired, a leaky tire fixed, an oil change, and a routine inspection.
The good: The a/​c works. The location was convenient.
The meh: Marin County pricing (relatively high). The receipt didn’t detail anything — just a parts list and a labor (time) estimate. I got a verbal confirmation that the tire was fixed and the inspection (brakes checked out, etc) was done. In a word: ‘yes’.
The bad: The tire still leaks and now the fan belts squeak. And then a couple of months later, the brakes are feeling even more iffy, so I need to have them looked at again. With actual feedback, this time.
So the one star? With the tire still leaking, the fan belts squeaking, and the brakes status unknown? In a word: ‘no’.

Been bringing our cars here for 25 yrs. Totally honest. Don’t do unnecessary work. Example, just had my car had Marin Honda for a recall. Marin Honda did the recall work and then said that I needed to replace the front engine mount. I brought it to MArin Auto Science and they said that it did not need to be replaced.

After a long week in Los Angeles for our daughter’s summer wedding, we drove to Mill Valley, CA for a few days. We had already driven 2500 miles from the Midwest so it was no surprise that oil service was due. We didn’t want to chance the trip back without maintenance esp across Nevada & Utah deserts on I-​80. Marin Auto Science got us in for the oil change the next morning with routine checks on tires and all fluid levels. Cheerful & thorough personnel made us feel a lot more confident making the trip home. Thanks, again!

It was my lucky day when I was running errands and got a flat tire next door to Marin Auto Science. Dave took care of my tire easily enough but found some axle damage that needed attention. He didn’t try to sell me the long list of repairs that my 260K+ mileage Sube simply doesn’t warrant, but just the ones necessary to keep my family and I safe, until we decide to upgrade our vehicle. Work was done within a day and for hundreds less than what other shops have quoted. Thanks Dave!

My 2002 BMW wagon completely died on me in downtown Mill Valley and needed to get towed to a repair shop. I was going to tow it to Bill Arnold up in San Rafael but a friend who by chance was there when my car died recommended Marin Auto Science.
I had to leave the car with a note since I was leaving on a business trip the next day. Veronica called me promptly on Monday morning with an assessment and estimate. The work was done promptly and efficiently and I was happily surprised when I picked up the car that they’d matched the price of the shop I usually go to in San Rafael.
Given the excellent work, reasonable prices and great customer service, I’ll happily make Marin Auto Science my first call for repairs in the future and will recommend friends. Veronica and the entire team are honest, trustworthy and do great work. Plus, the convenient location by Tam Junction cannot be beat.

The owners of this shop are absolutely delightful and do amazing work. They take care of all of our cars in a timely, affordable, and efficient manner. We recommend them for all of your automotive needs as it is such a difficult process to find an honest mechanic. Go see them!!!

Noticed a funny noise from my brakes on a Thursday. Called and was told to drop it off. Friday the car had new pads, rotors, bearings and I picked it up at 1:30. Could not ask for better service and work.

Love Veronica and her team!!! Been going there for over 5yrs, have a few friends going there now. I would highly recommend them. They’re are honest, reasonable, efficient, and a pleasure to work with. Love the family atmosphere. I always love a chance to support our local businesses, do the same and give them a try!

I have been a customer for almost 10 years. Couldn’t be happier with the service I receive. Nice, honest people!

Such a great shop with wonderful owners. They work on all our cars and have always given top notch service. Highly recommend!

Great service, honest, reasonable. They were very kind, and took the time to understand what was wrong with my car. They fixed me up real good, my 97 Honda will keep going for a few more years! It’s nice to have a trustworthy local mechanic.

I was not impressed. Had a routine service on my car, which including looking into a charging system warning light.
They found a leaky brake cylinder, which I had them fix, but the car came back with mushy brakes and a pedal that nearly went to the floor. The owner said the mechanic drove the car, but I find that very hard to believe.
A second visit to bleed the brake system did fix the mushy brakes, but still no word on the cause or cost of fixing the warning light problem. I assume they were either uninterested on incapable of taking on this work.
Cost was about the same as other shops in the area, but certainly not cheap. Won’t return.

Finally a mechanic I can trust. Even though I am guy.
These guys are honest, friendly, on budget, good price and great quality.
I would highly recommend them. I have an aging car and I would go out of my way to go to these guys now that I have moved away from Sausalito.

Marin Auto Science has been keeping my wife and myself on the road for 20 years! They are consistently affordable, fast and ethical. They communicate clearly when or if there is a challenge, like a back ordered part or something unexpected that they’ve discovered during the repair process and they are sensitive to those of us without deep pockets. As a bonus, they are family run and about the nicest people you could hope to meet. I trust them completely and recommend them highly with complete confidence.

I just moved back to the bay area when my car started freaking out; wanting to die & idling abnormally. I turned to Unilocal to find somewhat of an honest auto repair shop and chose Marin Auto Science because of the great reviews on Unilocal.
This place is fantastic. Veronica and her team are incredibly honest and get the job done. They didn’t try to sell me other services that needed to be done, which I appreciated considerably. It is located right behind Dan’s liquors, across the street from a Starbucks, and five doors down from the Dipsea Café, as well as right off the freeway. I got my car serviced and taken care of the week I called in. I will no doubt go back to Marin Auto Science for any future car service needs and recommend them! Thanks Veronica!

Unbelievable. Liquor in the front… incredibly reliable, honest, and trustworthy auto service in the rear. It’s so rare for the joke to end that way. But… haha! It’s no joke.
Instead of looking for coupons (which usually come from lousy stations that need to discount), and spending 10 hours researching, I let Unilocal inform me as to the no nonsense professionalism of these long time community members. It’s insane to be able to trust someone that quickly. You go, Unilocal.
I was worried about my wife’s Toyota. I didn’t think we had a major checkup in a bit, and was expecting it to be in trouble. I dropped the car off after hours, slid the key into the weird dropbox mail slot, and hoped for the best, expecting a big ding for service.
Well — the call today was «nothing is wrong». I didn’t have to do anything. They didn’t try to get me to change my brakes earlier than necessary, or any other random fixes. It was quite literally, «oil changed, tires rotated, some new filters, etc» and $ 50 later… it was all over.
That sort of refreshing, transparent, simple honesty makes for a life long customer. The Toyota is yours, Science. If I bring my Wrangler, you know I really, REALLY love you. =)

Veronica and team are honest, thoroughly helpful and nice!
In twice — for brakes and for O2 sensors work.
For presmog and engine code issues, they provided thorough thoughtful information by looking at past service paperwork. Before time and money was spent they graciously addressed a Toyota specific issue that they could not repair — they were not going to make money from it but did not hesitate in candidly informing me and answering all my questions about it.
The O2 work they could perform was fairly priced and even faster and less money than their estimation. Feel lucky to have found them. The rare service many of us miss. Big hoorah for this shop!

I had another great experience at Marin Auto Science today. Among my top takeaways this time, in chronological order, were:
— Convenient
— Friendly and welcoming
— Knowledgeable and customer-​centric
— Skilled work, fairly priced
OK, now the rest of the words. Let’s start with the location. Marin Auto Science is in the center of Tam Junction, convenient to market, pharmacy and other errands, plus public transportation and a great bike path.
Veronica and her husband Ken are always glad to see you, as is their funny short dog whose name I forget. Even if you sit in the dog’s seat on the sofa, you are quickly forgiven. The mechanics are gruff but talented and will take good care of your wheels.
Veronica is smarter about my car and my schedule than I am. She will work around my school pickup times, and is always up front about how busy the garage will get, whether it will be fully staffed, when parts will come in, and so on. She is customer-​focused and understands that sometimes I completely forget that I even made an appointment. I like people who are forgiving of my many failings.
The work the team does is excellent, fast, and fairly priced. Sometimes I have to insist on paying for things, as their policy sometimes seems to be «test it out, see if we fixed it, and if we did, come back and pay us.» If they can, they will work while you wait.
Because I’m not allowed to make phone calls from the car any more, I have dropped by to schedule appointments in person recently: once, when the passenger side of the car was filling up with water; and today, because the front wheels are going to fall off and I had a headlight out. This morning, Veronica had someone test drive the car right away, and after she offered me a job for guessing right about my wheels being about to fall off, she fixed the headlight on the spot and helped me set an appointment for next week.
The price she quoted me is better than we expected, and is for the approach that makes the most sense vs. the one that will get them more money or business. And then she said this happens all the time with cars in this area, from going up and down the mountain six times a day, AND she said that the wheels aren’t actually going to fall off on both sides, just the right side, and not until later next week. So with a dry car on my newly-​lighted path, I look forward to my Monday morning appointment, and another great customer experience at Marin Auto Science!

You never have to worry about your car, the estimate, or the work being done when you go to Marin Auto Science.
They are very easy to work with, clear in their explanations, and realistic in terms of helping you plan for all your repair needs.
I have saved time and money with them, and always tell friends in Marin about the great service I receive there for my Saab.